UVic professor films transgender comedic drama in Victoria

Two 4 One, a unique romantic comedy, began production this month in Victoria. UVic Writing Professor Maureen Bradley will helm the film, which she has also written.

Two 4 One is billed as the first breakout feature film with a transgender character as its romantic lead. Adam, who is transitioning from female to male, has a one-night stand with his ex Miriam. Miriam had received sperm for self-insemination and, during their one-night stand, both Miriam and Adam end up pregnant from the same sperm. Bradley says, “I’m calling it a romantic comedy, but I don’t see it in the same vein as the traditional Hollywood romcom. It’s more of a comedic drama, but there’s romance in it.”

The idea for the film came from a book about home insemination. Bradley says, “My partner was trying to get pregnant five or six years ago, and we were reading this book about home insemination, written by a midwife. She just, in passing, mentioned this anecdote: If you’re doing this at home, be careful, don’t share your toys. She had a client that did that, a transgender man who helped out his partner a bit too much and got pregnant, and I read that and basically dropped the book and said, ‘Oh my god that’s a movie.’”

Two 4 One has a goal budget of $250 000 which is the cap that Telefilm Canada sets on the projects it funds under its Micro-Budget Production Program. Telefilm Canada has donated half the budget through the program. Two 4 One is further funded by the British Columbia Arts Council and the Jim Murphy Filmmakers Scholarship. Bradley also turned to indiegogo, an online crowdsourcing fundraising website, and raised $20 355 of the remaining $107 000 needed for the full budget. The amount of the budget that Two 4 One has raised will allow the production to stay in Victoria and not have to move to Vancouver or be scaled down. Bradley is not only filming in Victoria but also basing the film in Victoria and plans to have it finished in the spring.

While Two 4 One may seem like a film trying to make a statement, Bradley says, “It isn’t an overtly political film, but I am starting to see how comedy and drama can reach people maybe a little more than activism can, unfortunately. I’m a lapsed activist. I started making films through that, not seeing the images that I wanted to see. Not seeing representation that really reflected the whole world. So that’s why I started making movies myself. Just broadening people’s notion of humanity and the human experience.”

Ultimately, Bradley says, “It’s a human story. All those struggles are very familiar to so many people. Love lost, love re-found, the desire to make a family, to connect and then losing that, and acceptance from your parents, from your circle.”